The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued an order on the Minimum Offer Price Rule (MOPR) in the PJM Interconnection, L.L.C. (PJM) tariff on June 29, addressing recent controversies over the capacity market impact of some generators receiving state rate subsidies. In the June 29 order, FERC rejected two alternative proposals by PJM to modify the MOPR in response to concerns of state subsidization of new generation resources, granted a complaint filed by market participants against the MOPR, and instituted a paper hearing proceeding under Section 206 of the Federal Power Act (FPA) to determine the just and reasonable revisions to the PJM tariff that would be necessary to address the subsidization issues. The resulting FERC proceeding promises to significantly reshape the PJM capacity market, which has struggled for years to address in a manner that FERC would accept the market impacts of subsidies to specific resources. FERC’s decision, although limited to PJM, could also lead to widespread changes in other capacity markets dealing with the same issues.

Background

The MOPR is a feature of PJM’s Reliability Pricing Model (RPM), which is PJM’s capacity market. Through the RPM, PJM conducts a series of auctions to procure resources to meet regional reliability reserve requirements. A variety of resources may participate, including fossil-fuel, renewable, and demand response resources. Winners of the auction are awarded a fixed price for their capacity in exchange for a commitment to make their capacity available for dispatch by PJM.

Commissioner Robert Powelson announced on June 28 that he will step down from his position at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to lead the National Association of Water Companies. Commissioner Powelson was sworn in on August 10, 2017 for a term that was intended to last through June 30, 2020, but will be leaving this August.

One of three Republican appointees on the five-member Commission, Commissioner Powelson’s departure will leave FERC with two Republicans and two Democrats until another Republican is confirmed by the US Senate to assume the vacated seat (the majority of seats must be held by the party of the US president).

Given the number of high-profile issues under consideration at the Commission, including the emerging issue of resiliency (Docket No. AD18-7) and the hotly disputed reconsideration of FERC’s existing policy on certificating new interstate natural gas facilities (Docket No. PL18-1), an even split between the parties could make it difficult to issue a final policy or rule in these proceedings.

In response to concerns raised by authorization holders, potential liquefied natural gas (LNG) importers, and companies financing LNG export projects, the US Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy (DOE/FE) issued a policy statement affirming its commitment to the non–free trade agreement (FTA) export authorizations it has granted and any export authorizations it grants in the future.

To date, DOE/FE has issued 29 final authorizations to export LNG to non-FTA countries. In each of the orders granting these authorizations, DOE/FE included a statement that it has the authority under Section 16 of the Natural Gas Act (NGA) to “make, amend, and rescind such [export] orders . . . as it may find necessary or appropriate.”

Commenters have asked DOE/FE to clarify the circumstances under which DOE/FE would exercise its authority to revoke an LNG export authorization. In response, DOE/FE has stated that it cannot identify all of the circumstances in which it would take such action but that it is authorized to exercise its authority to protect the public interest. DOE/FE noted that it has vacated one FTA order but that it was due to prolonged inaction by the authorization holder.

The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia affirmed the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC’s) decision to reject a transmission cost allocation proposal submitted by the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO). The court found that FERC adequately explained its decision to reject the proposal on the grounds that it undervalued interregional transmission projects.

The Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ)—the US federal agency responsible for coordinating and overseeing federal agency implementation of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)—moved one step closer on June 20 towards revising its longstanding NEPA-implementing regulations. Those regulations, which last underwent a major revision in 1986, govern the environmental review process for all “major federal actions,” including Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) license reviews for hydroelectric projects and certificates for natural gas facilities.

Now, in an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR), the CEQ signaled that it is ready to receive public comments on potential revisions that it hopes will “ensure a more efficient, timely, and effective NEPA process consistent with the national environmental policy stated in NEPA.” Comments are due July 20, 2018.

The Commissioners of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC or the Commission) testified on June 12 at an oversight hearing before the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. They addressed FERC-jurisdictional issues, including grid modernization, resiliency, security, and enforcement, and President Donald Trump’s recent directive to US Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Rick Perry to prepare immediate steps to stop the loss and retirement of nuclear and coal generation facilities. The Commissioners’ testimony provides an insight into the issues that FERC may prioritize in the near future.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on June 6 regarding the care and protection of critical energy/electric infrastructure information (CEII). The MOU delineates how the two agencies will cooperate to identify, process, and protect CEII that the NRC holds, explaining that the two independent agencies “mutually agree that it is important to protect CEII to ensure the safety and security of the electric grid.” Under the MOU, the NRC will be able to consult with FERC to designate certain NRC-held information as CEII—and therefore FOIA-exempt—if requested by a third-party under that open records law.

The MOU is another step in the US government’s attempt to address growing concerns about physical and cybersecurity threats to the electricity grid. Congress, recognizing these threats, directed the US Department of Energy and FERC to identify and protect CEII when it passed the “Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act” (FAST Act) in 2015. FERC issued its CEII regulations in late 2016.

The commissioners from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) held a joint meeting on June 7 to discuss grid reliability and cybersecurity. FERC and NRC staff provided presentations on the recent and ongoing activities of both agencies to promote a stable, resilient, and secure grid. The presentations were largely a summary of recent agency activities and served to continue the practice of both independent regulatory agencies meeting to discuss items of common interest.

The White House announced late last week that President Donald Trump has directed Energy Secretary Rick Perry to “prepare immediate steps to stop the loss” of “fuel-secure power facilities,” noting that near-term retirements of these facilities could lead to “a rapid depletion of a critical part of our nation’s energy mix, and impact the resilience of our power grid.” Although the federal government has not yet disclosed what those steps might be or which generators are at issue, press reports from CNN and Bloomberg, among others, have emerged suggesting that the US Department of Energy (DOE) is considering a directive that would require Independent System Operators and Regional Transmission Operators (ISOs/RTOs) to purchase energy from designated “fuel-secure” plants for a period of up to, and possibly more than, 24 months to avoid any near-term decommissioning.